Don't Say Where We Are--T.S.M. Newsletter
Greetings from Peaklessburg.
The Chinese science fiction author Cixin Liu has been wildly successful with his Three Body Problem trilogy, yet it's the component parts of his books that are so thought provoking. Some related to adventure, to me, and the dialogue often revealed these nuggets of truth, as good literature should. This one happens during a long road trip with a romantic couple where the rules between them unveiled slowly during the journey and were analogous to the plot and poignant of the way we could live in the second book:
"Don't say where we are. Once we know where we are, the world becomes as narrow as a map. When we don't know, the world feels unlimited."
We like to think in possibilities, and what we can our could accomplish, especially when we’re young. We can either get jaded with familiarity and its constraints or grow mature and more affectionate and forgiving. Leaving the unknown — and with it the idea of unpredicted outcomes — well, it’s what keeps me going.
When I started visiting the Adirondack Mountains, the main mountain playground of my life, I was 11 and through my 20s I visited often and embraced the place for what it was, which was wonderful, but I sometimes imagined I was in Patagonia, or the woodland in Nepal. Why? Partly because it was so far flung to me, and I had no map of lived experience of those places, only photos in books and magazines to tease out daydreams. A land of my imagination was alive with “What ifs…”
I still do this, especially because I live in Peaklessburg. For me it’s suburban, rural, and small urban communities. My local hiking trail is a “lake” that was made from a old quarry, but with the pine trees, and the rolling trail, to me it makes me think of a crater lake trail out West I have never actually been to, or walking on a long approach on a river, en route to a bergschrund. Yes, we should get to know our land, and our parks and grow to love them just as they are, even if they are just a quarry, but we need to leave a little room for the dreams that stirs our heart and opens us to new experiences even in familiar places.
RECENT POST, in case you missed it...
Francis Sanzaro, Author of ‘Zen of Climbing,’ on Bouldering
The Craft of Bouldering is this form of climbing’s only piece of literature, in the grandest sense, even compared to John Gill’s Bouldering and the Vertical Path (2009). Sanzaro presents the unique place of bouldering as a subset of climbing and does so with a trained academic but also as a practitioner of the craft. Lots of sports and art forms have celebratory pieces archiving the way it’s done with excellence and milestones as well as critiques. Bouldering’s bookshelf is short, especially after any guidebooks. Click here to read the full commentary.
A NEW MEMOIR AND CLIMBING TOURS
Emily Meg Weinstein’s climbing memoir Turn to Stone will be released September 2, 2025. Simon & Schuster’s website says this among other things about it: “Down on the ground, it was hard to connect, hard to attach, hard to untangle, hard to let go. But up here, I understood. Up here, I could make it good.” Yep, add in an abusive relationship and the sanctity of the pursuit of climbing, and I am sure Weinstein has something worth reading and discussing. (Oh, and by the way, Emily Meg Weinstein should not to be confused with Emily Weinstein, the NYT food editor, whom she has long known personally, as a matter of fact. I appreciate how Emily Meg explains this on her personal website.)
The Mountaineers Books will be publishing Spare These Stones: A Journey through Southern Climbing Culture by Andrew Kornylak on September 1, 2025, about stories that made climbing in the Southeast United States. It was a secretive pursuit in the beginnings, according to Kornylak. According to the publisher’s description, Spare these Stones includes profiles about Kornylak shares stories about Jerry Roberts, Joey Henson, Greg Kottkamp, Lisa Rands, Adam Henry, James Litz, and more.
Adventure Books in will be releasing “soon” a “special edition” version of its part guidebook and part “literary celebration” Extreme Rock: Great British Rock Climbs from E1 to E7 compiled by Grant Farquhar. It’s the companion of Hard Rock. The first version of Extreme Rock by Ken Wilson and Bernard Newman, published in 1987, seems to have helped build the lore of rock climbing across England, Scotland, and Wales, based on what little I know of this book. I for one want to find the 1987 version and read it, don’t you?
SONNIE TROTTER’S PLAYLIST
Sonnie name drops and references several musical artists and songs in his new book Uplifted, which I reviewed recently. And, Patagonia books made a Spotify playlist of all the music and musicians he mentions through his stories. It’s the “The Uplifted Playlist” and you can listen to it here.
Thanks for reading. And remember to subscribe to a climbing magazine, if you’re not already, to support the climbing community and climbing writing in print. Those publications incubate great books to come, and they’ve influenced my life. There’s young climbers only consuming Instagram and TikToks. Subscribe.
—Andrew